Is This the Last Shabbat Without Your Soulmate?

At the beginning of the year, we posted our inaugural entry in the Scroll Shidduch Series. Seven intrepid, acerbic men had outsourced their search for Shabbat companionship to the culverts of Craigslist–infamously not a site with a mission of forging long-term interpersonal connections–with an ad inviting seven Jewish women to Shabbat dinner. (First they had to pass through a rigorous application process.)

From the sounds of it, the results were mixed. One of the lucky ladies scribed a tell-all for Jewcy explaining that there had been some connections, but her night had ended in the arms of non-Jewish Frenchman. And this was the last we heard of it.

Now, just 45 minutes down the Parkway (on a light traffic day), seven Jewish women in Baltimore are turning the tables. Craigslist Shabbat Redux is next Friday and application season is open. Here’s how the ad begins:

Shalom! We are seven incredibly amazing, multi-dimensional (three at least) women. Though our hair color ranges from less brown to more brown and our ages range from 24 to 31 we are all Jewish. Bound by tradition and emboldened by Manischewitz, we are hosting an epic Shabbat dinner in downtown Baltimore on Dec. 20, 2013 — a little challah, a little wine, and as many matzoh balls as you can handle. In a nod to our guilt-inducing culture, we are inviting seven lucky gents to feast with us. Echoing the State of Israel’s Declaration of Independence, we will consider you, “irrespective of religion or race,” as long as you have the “honesty of an ant, chastity of a dove, and good manners of a rooster” (Talmud, Eruvin 100b) and know how to party.

Like the previous dinner, this all sounds a little bit exhausting and overdetermined to me. Also, it seems swell that applications are open to non-Jews, but some of the application queries…Do kippot (yarmulkes) cause bald spots or are they a convenient cover-up?…I don’t know.

Of course, this is not to discourage anyone to apply. I hope these hyper-literate women get good, polite applicants and that love is born, tradition preserved, and peoplehood perpetuated. It’d be the first intentional case of that ever happening on Craiglist.